CLEAR CUTTING THE WESTERN WATERFRONT

“It really was a situation that couldn’t continue,” says Vin Veroneau, President of JB Brown.

He is referring to an ongoing safety issue of transient use of what used to be the woods along the Western waterfront from the Star Match building on Western Commercial Street to Benny’s Famous Fried Clams.

The entire area was clear cut, leaving behind the twisted stumps of birch and other trees.

Stretch along West Commercial St that used to be covered in brush and trees.

Birch stumps along abandoned rail tracks along the Western waterfront.

Homeless residents were camping and building campfires, according to police and the property managers, JB Brown and Sons.

JB Brown hopes that removing the trees will limit the use of the area by squatters. Police agree that clearing the trees was a good idea.

The final straw for JB Brown and local law enforcement occurred when a convicted felon was arrested while camping on the property.

Some neighboring property owners have also removed trees. The entire area is now mostly bare, making it impossible for anyone to set up a camp without being noticed.

2 Comments

Patrick Pettit U.S. CITIZEN !

The war on the homeless , isn’t won by denying them shelter , it should be a privilege and honor to assist the homeless with compassion and empathy . Camps and shelters are indications of pursuit of shelter and security . Put yourself in the other persons shoes and imagine your own emotional state , trying to attain what others take for granted !We send millions to sites of natural , and man made disasters around the world , we use tax dollars domestically to systemize services ,but the problem is never resolved with a satisfactory solution . Only when we get down in the trenches and talk to those under attack will we begin to understand !

I know this spot. I camped here a few times last summer. Friends and I camped across the street the spring and summer of 2013.

It was a really nice location for camping, out of the way, semi private, noone seemed to mind and all the campers there took good care of the space, cleaned up after themselves and respected the land.

But like a 3 year old with a forgotten lego tower, landlords dont care about their neglected parcels until someone else starts to use them, then they would rather smash their toys then let others have access to them.

This is how arborists deal with invasive species. Like the emerald ash bore, arborists in canada mobalized to cut a no-ash corridor from the US border north. the US didnt co-operate as agreed, so the ash bore when around the corridor through the US, and inected the ash east of the corridor in canada. Dumb policy move.

Kinda like how the city is dealing with homelessness in portland, just dumb policy move after dumb policy move.

maybe if we were treated better then chickens in a factory farm, by the city, or an invasive species by landlords, and people had the common decency to have a conversation with us about our needs, interests, and a community dialogue about resources available, we could develop solutions that cut to the core of the matter.

Lets take this dialogue beyond prejudice, hate and fear, and these tired arguments about “safety”(which are used to justify every bad policy these days). Homelessness is not safe, for anyone, especially women and children, the disabled, and elderly, and addicts who need treatment and support.

A fire in the woods sounds scary, when taken out of context and framed in such a way to instill fear, but just like the rules for landlords having outdoor fire pits, the same regulations should apply, keeping the fire so many feet away from structures, and trees, and in a contained space is all it takes. What these myths of “safety” are used to do, is simply move the homeless along, because their presence is just, too inconvenient for landlords and the city to actually deal with.

instead of stealing our camping supplies, destroying our stuff, criminalizing our survival, and forcing is into the factory farm chicken coop shelter, try having conversations with us. We have ideas for how to solve the housing access crisis, we are willing to work with landlords, and the city, but it seems, landlords and the city, do not respect our existence.

If it comes down to it, and homeless people decide one day to defend themselves and their spaces, I will be there with them, advocating and educating them about their rights, because they DO have rights, just like anyone else.

We treat the land how we treat eachother, and until we stop seeing the land and other people as mere resources to be put to use, or bought and sold, then we can only look forward to more of the same. Land being destroyed for the interests of landlords, and people being pushed around for the interests of those who have more power and resources in the community.

Something has to give, and I look forward to the city hall meeting tomorrow, and a couple very important agenda topics. Including but not limited to the future of the overflow shelter, which the city is threatening to close down. Needless to say, less shelter beds means more campers. Take your pick!